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Rev. Kathi's Message:
Kathi is on vacation. Her message will resume next week.
The United Church of Canada will be re-organizing our governing structures at the end of this year. Moving forward we will no longer be receiving our regular oversight visits from Halton Presbytery.
The Presbytery thought it would be helpful for the incoming Regional Council if they could have an updated profile of each faith community in the region.
Our Leadership Circle has been working on answers to six questions the Presbytery has asked about us and they would welcome your input. For the coming weeks, while Kathi is on vacation, we will feature one of the questions each Friday and give you an opportunity to provide input.
The Leadership Circle would like your input on the following. After reviewing the questions and answers below, please provide any feedback you may have to Barb Jennings, Chair of Communications by responding to this email or sending a separate email to Barb directly at barbara_jennings@sympatico.ca
Question 5: What would be your strongest wish (or wishes) for the future of your congregation?
Responses to this question fell into 5 main areas:
Sustainability and Growth
The majority of comments can be summarized under this category. As shown below, members of the Leadership circle wish for our congregation to stay together, maintain and/or increase current membership and carry on its programs and activities with a vibrant volunteer base that can be regularly refreshed. Below are the individual responses:
- Maintain/increase the numbers of people who attend worship and engage in our activities
- To continue to be an open and welcoming congregation
- the first being that we remain together as a congregation.
- To continue doing its great work
- To be able continue to provide the programs within the church and to the community around us -with adequate numbers of people power, and the funds to do so
- To be able to sustain the congregation numbers to do the work of EMUC in future, as numbers of EMUC families leave our community and less come in to the United Church in general.
- Sustainability through congregational growth
Attract Young Families and Youth
and Community Engagement
Attracting young families and youth and community engagement shared equally in number of responses. Leadership Circle members want younger generations to experience the joy of working and worshipping together. We want to find ways to engage with the diversity of peoples in our surrounding community, including those from other faith communities, and to play a vital role in the neighbourhood. These are the individual responses:
- To see younger families come to our church, take part in its growth and experience the spirit of working and worshiping together.
- Secondly for the younger generation, young families, to benefit from all the good that comes from working, volunteering and worshipping together. We need to find, welcome and encourage new young families to attend, participate......the rest will follow.
- To grow and attract young families and youth
- Develop intentional strategies to engage the diversity in the surrounding community
- To open our doors to serving the surrounding community and to be a vital part of the community
- Continue to promote relationships with other faith communities
A Renewed Mission
and Increased Engagement (of existing members)
While these last 2 categories each have only 2 responses, a review of our vision and mission statements in particular is currently being passionately discussed at Leadership Circle meetings and Congregational Growth Committee meetings. As we look to the future, we want the congregation as a whole to share a common understanding of who we are and who we want to be as we live out our mission as a Christian community. Re-engagement of members who rarely attend and/or participate in the life and work of EMUC is viewed as a part of a congregational growth strategy, as well as initiatives to maintain enthusiasm and involvement of current attendees. Below are the individual responses:
- Development of a renewed mission that would facilitate the growth of our congregation both spiritually and in the number of members.
- Determine the focus/mission for EMUC going forward and develop a strategy and tactical plan to make it happen
- Determine what programs are needed for all demographics within the church to increase engagement
- continue to have creative, interesting initiatives that engage more members of the congregation, including working in conjunction with other churches on projects that are interesting and of benefit for both congregations
Question #6
Do you have anything else you wish to tell the new Regional Council about your church?
- Music has always been very important within our church
- EMUC is participating in the Mississauga Futures Working Group
- We are a member of the North West Mississauga Constituent Group to sponsor refugees - a family of four and a single man all originally from Syria
- EMUC is debt free.
We welcome your input and feedback! Thank you!
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This Week at EMUC
10:00 am:
Worship - led by Scott Beckett,
a candidate for ministry from First United
Church in Port Credit
Guest Musician - Eran Rozen
Scripture: Exodus 3: 1-10
Message: "Okay, But Now What?"
Wednesday 4:00 pm: Nominating Committee meeting
6:45 pm:
Prayer and Communion service is cancelled for July and
will
resume August 8th.
Next Sunday August 12th:
Worship will be led by Rev. Kathi
When Kathi returns from vacation, she will be preaching a sermon series on the parable of the Prodigal Son for 3 weeks starting on August 12.
Rev. Kathi will be returning from holidays on Tuesday, August 7th.
For any pastoral concerns, please contact Peter/Sylvia in the office 905-820-9466 ext 23
Summer Office Hours:
Monday 1- 4 pm; Tuesday Wednesday, Thursday 9-12 noon & 1- 4 pm; Friday 9 -1pm
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Upcoming Events:
REFUGEE SPONSORSHIP UPDATE
Tarek is settling in well and getting to know the city. He has been introduced to Nidal with whom we were working when we first started the sponsorship process. Nidal's educational background is similar to Tarek's and he has volunteered to assist him in getting his credentials assessed and exploring the possibilities of employment in the field of translation. Tarek will be moving into a one bedroom apartment in Sheridan Homelands in July.
We welcomed the Nadaff family to Canada a week ago. They have moved into the two bedroom apartment on Jaguar Valley. During the summer, volunteers may be needed from time to time to help drive them to appointments.
BUY A CHAIR CAMPAIGN
Recently 100 chairs were purchased for the Lower Hall to replace those that were in a bad state of repair. We have had inquiries from individuals wanting to donate funds to help cover the cost of the chairs.
The cost of each chair was $65.00. If you wish to make a donation, you are invited to place it on the offering plate, clearly designated for the chairs.
'FUNDSCRIP' PROGRAM
We are continuing with FUNDSCRIP, an innovative fundraising program that asks you to purchase gift cards in order to pay for regular items you buy every month. A percentage of the cards we purchase through FUNDSCRIP is donated back to our church. Order forms for gift cards will be available the last Sunday of every month. The next order date is this Sunday, Aug. 26, 2018. There will be no FUNDSCRIP order in July. Please see the display board at the back of the church or speak to Joanne Hines if you have any questions about the program.
WHAT TO DO WITH USED GIFT CARDS?
Your used gift cards may be placed in a small box on the Visitors table beside the photocopier room. Mary Anna Williams will ensure they are dropped off at the Town Centre for recycling.
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